Finalizing EPCS records at least three business days prior to the external deadline & Recommended Proposal Submission in Advance of the External Deadline
Proposals for external funding associated with grants and/or contracts must be reviewed and approved by Sponsored Projects Services (SPS) using the Electronic Proposal Clearance System (EPCS), including those to be submitted through Grants.gov, ASSIST, Research.gov, or other sponsor portals.
The EPCS record is an internal UO electronic system (not connected to external portals) which is required to be completed and finalized by the UO Principal Investigator (PI) at least three business days prior to the external deadline. Please contact your Pre-Award Sponsored Projects Administrator with questions or concerns about the required EPCS record.
When preparing a proposal application to be submitted to sponsors for external funding, early preparedness and early submission is encouraged by external sponsors. Submission of a proposal application to the external funding agent is strongly encouraged by SPS at least one day or more in advance of an external deadline. This Best Practice is an advantage to a Principal Investigator. Most UO faculty have been in this practice of early preparedness and readiness for submission of applications well in advance of the external deadline for reasons such as those listed below.
- Unexpected or unanticipated electronic or other issues can cause submission delays. An application may not be accepted for review by a sponsor due to unexpected or unanticipated electronic, or other issues, arising during the submission process which cause the application/proposal to be submitted after the external deadline has passed.
- If the application is submitted to the external sponsor one day or more prior to the deadline, some sponsors will allow the PI to log into their portal to review the application package, just as the reviewers will see it. If there are minor edits the PI wishes to make, this can be achieved without prior approval from the sponsor. When the application is re-submitted by SPS prior to the deadline, the updated application replaces the prior application submitted. This opportunity may be lost when an application is presented for review and submission on the day of the external deadline.
- Application review by SPS may not be possible when an application is presented for final review and submission on the same day as the external deadline. The PI may lose the advantage of having SPS review of the application prior to submission. Review of an application by SPS can result in finding required parts of the application that are missing or not formatted correctly, or other items that could affect the acceptance of the application by the sponsor for review.
EPCS records are required to be completed and finalized by the UO Principal Investigator (PI) at least three business days prior to the external deadline. Please also consider having the application package ready for SPS review and submission well in advance of the external deadline.
To ensure your submitted application documents are consistent and accurate, please avoid making changes, to the greatest extent possible, to the proposal documents (budget, budget justification, current and pending support, biographical sketches, etc.) on the same day as the external deadline.